How Puget Sound orcas could affect San Diego’s water supply

Could the plight of Puget Sound’s orcas lead to cutbacks in water supplies for Southern Californians?
It might seem like a stretch, but Rob Davis of VoiceofSanDiego.org sketches out the possibility in an intriguing news story.

Here’s the deal: Two of Puget Sound’s three orca pods frequently swim to California and eat salmon reared in the San Francisco Bay Delta — drawing about 10 percent to 15 percent of their sustenance over the period of a year. Sending water from the delta to Southern California robs salmon of water they need, salmon advocates say. A lawsuit they filed has the National Marine Fisheries is considering water cutbacks after years of arguing whether the pumping harmed a much less flashy endangered species, the delta smelt. Davis writes:

Until recently, the icon that defined the delta’s decline was the endangered delta smelt, a three-inch fish that smells like cucumbers and sits on the verge of extinction.

Now it’s Shamu.

NMFS professes to be seriously considering the cutbacks. Here’s what Maria Rea, supervisor of the agency’s Sacramento office, told Davis:

This certainly points to the interconnected ecosystem. The whales are here and part of California’s ecosystem.

She wouldn’t go into details, but will have to answer to a federal judge in Fresno March 2.